Packaging apparatus



May 1, 1962 Filed Dec. 5, 1960 R. W. WORDSWORTH PACKAGING APPARATUS 2. Sheets-Sheet 1 y 1962 R. w. WORDSWORTH 3,032,211

PACKAGING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 5, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent m 3,032,211 PACKAGING APPARATUS Ronald William Wordsworth, Gainsborough, England, assignor to Rose Brothers (Gainsborough) Limited, Gainsborough, England, a British company Filed Dec. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 73,881 Claims priority, application Great Britain Dec. 23, 1959 5 Claims. (Cl. 214-7) This invention relates to packaging apparatus, and is particularly concerned with the feeding and collecting of successive given numbers of articles, e.g., sweets, in the form of regular batches with the articles lying end to end for subsequent feeding as a succession of batches to a wrapping or packaging machine. The articles may have been previously wrapped individually before forming into batches.

According to the present invention, an apparatus for the above purpose comprises an open-topped hopper formed with a series of downwardly tapering chambers each adapted to receive articles in succession for the articles to gravitate to the bottom of the hopper, a ledge formed at the upper end of each chamber to support one side only of each successive article as it is fed to the chamber so as to cause the article, during initial gravitation, to tilt downwardly, and a delivery support adapted to receive the lowermost articles from the hopper to form successive batches for further conveyance to a wrapping or packaging machine.

The invention has been found particularly useful in the feeding of wrapped totfees of rectangular shape in batches to the feed conveyor of a wrapping machine, the toifees having a thickness that is small in relation to their length and breadth. Such toffees are conveniently fed to the top of the hopper by a belt conveyor, there being arranged over the conveyor a series of side guides to provide a number of separate lanes corresponding to the number of chambers in the hopper. A common dead plate leads from the end of the belt to guide the tofi'ees on to the ledges at the top of the chambers, each toffee being pushed from the dead plate on to the ledge by a succeeding toffee.

The chambers preferably taper from a width at the top comfortably to take the width of the toifees to a width at the bottom comfortably to take the thickness of the toliees, the tapered portions merging into parallel portions of that width.

By way of example, the invention will now be described in greater detaii with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of an apparatus for the feeding and collecting of wrapped toifees into regular batches for transfer to a wrapping machine, and

FIGURE 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1.

Sweets 11 are fed towards the top of a multiple hopper 12 in separate lanes by a common conveyor belt 13, the lanes being separated by guides 14. The hopper 12 is formed with a series of downwardly tapering chambers 16 each merging into a parallel-sided portion. The walls 17 of the chambers 16 (except the centre wall) are each formed with a ledge 18 along which successive articles are guided and which supports one side only of the articles. A common dead plate 19 leads from the end of the conveyor 13 to guide the sweets 11 on to the ledges 18, each sweet 11 being pushed from the dead plate 19 on to the ledge by the succeeding tofiees in the lane.

At the side of the hopper 12 opposite the dead plate 19, there is arranged a movable end stop 21 mounted on a pivoted arm 22 arranged to be actuated by a camoperated link 23, the stop first moving towards the ad- 3,032,211 Patented May 1, 1962 vancing sweet 11 into operative position, and then in the opposite direction to clear the leading sweet.

Operating in timed relationship with the end stop 21 is a trapper bar 24 carrying a series of spring-loaded trappers 26 arranged to engage the sweets 11 on the dead plate 19 in the several lanes to arrest all but the leading sweet in each lane after engagement by the end stop 21. Also operating in timed relationship with the end stop 21 is a tappet arm 27 having a series of adjustable tappets 28 adapted, upon outward movement of the end stop 21, to strike the upper surfaces of the sweets 11 to cause them to fall from the ledges 18, if they have not already fallen by gravity, the sweets 11 tilting downwardly in falling and in so doing turning through 90 to be guided by the walls 17 into the narrow parallel portions of the chambers 16. The trapper bar 24 and the tappet arm 27 are carried, respectively, by pivoted arms 29 and 31 arranged to be actuated, respectively, by cam-operated links 32 and 33.

Arranged below the hopper 12 is a supporting platform 34, adapted to receive each batch of sweets 11 as they fall to the bottom of the chambers 16, the platform 34 being mounted on, a pivoted arm 36 carrying a roller 37 arranged to bear against the face of a rotatable cam 38, mounted on a shaft 39. The platform 34 is operated in timed relationship with a trapper bar 41 carrying a series layer of sweets 11 immediately above the one on the platform 34 to trap that layer against the forward wall 43 of the hopper 12, the platform 34 operating first slightly to raise the columns of sweets in the chambers 16, and the trapper bar then operating to hold the columns of sweets against falling while the platform 34 is lowered and the batch of sweets 11 removed from the platform.

The trapper bar 41 is mounted on a pivoted arm 40 and is actuated by cam mechanism (not shown) connected to the arm 40 by a link 45. The removal of the sweets from the platform 34 is performed by a pusher 44 mounted on a slide bar 46 guided in grooved rollers 47 and connected by a link 48 to an arm 49 carrying a roller 51 arranged to engage a rotatable cam 52 mounted on the shaft 39. The pusher 44 serves to remove the batch of sweets 11 from the platform 34 into a waiting pocket 54 on an intermittently movable conveyor chain 56 arranged to transport the successive batches of sweets to a wrapping machine.

Prior to the operation of the pusher 44, a pair of positioning members 57 are moved endwise of the batch to move the individual sweets 11 into close juxtaposition, the members 57 each being mounted on a slide bar 58 guided in grooved rollers 59 and connected by a link 61 to an arm 62 carrying a roller 63 arranged to engage a rotatable cam 64 mounted on the shaft 39.

The conveyor belt 13 will normally be run at a greater speed than is strictly necessary to provide the number of batches of sweets required by the pocketed conveyor 56. In this manner, the sweets 11 will approach the hopper 12 in close files.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for the feeding and collecting of successive given numbers of articles in the form of regular batches, comprising an open-topped hopper formed with a series of downwardly tapering chambers each adapted to receive articles in succession for the articles to gravitate to the bottom of the hopper, a ledge formed at the upper end of each chamber to support one side only of each successive article as it is fed to the chamber so as to cause the article, during initial gravitation, to tilt downwardly, a movable end stop arranged adjacent the front wall of the hopper and adapted to be engaged by the leading articles as they move on to the ledges, and a delivery support adapted to receive the lowermost articles from the hopper to form successive batches for further conveyance to a wrapping or packaging machine.

2. Apparatus for the feeding and collecting of successive given numbers of articles in the form of regular batches, comprising an open-topped hopper formed with a series of downwardly tapering chambers each adapted to receive articles in succession for the articles to gravitate to the bottom of the hopper, a ledged formed at the upper end of each chamber to support one side only of each successive articles as it is fed to the chamber so as to cause the article, during initial gravitation, to tilt downwardly, a movable end stop arranged adjacent the front wall of the hopper and adapted to be engaged by the leading articles as they move on to the ledges, a trapper member adapted periodically to arrest all but the leading articles during gravitation thereof into the mouth of the hopper, and a delivery support adapted to receive the lowermost articles from the hopper to form successive batches for further conveyance to a wrapping or packaging machine.

3. Apparatus for the feeding and collecting of successive given numbers of articles in the form of regular batches, comprising an open-topped hopper formed with a series of downwardly tapering chambers each adapted to receive articles in succession for the articles to gravitate to the bottom of the hopper, a ledge formed at the upper end of each chamber to support one side only of each suecessive article as it is fed to the chamber so as to cause the article, during initial gravitation, to tilt downwardly, a movable end stop arranged adjacent the front wall of the hopper and adapted to be engaged by the leading articles as they move on to the ledges, a trapper member adapted periodically to arrest all but the leading articles during gravitation thereof into the mouth of the hopper, a tappet member adapted to strike the leading articles downwardly as they are positioned over the chambers so as to assist their gravitational movement, and a delivery support adapted to receive the lowermost articles from the hopper to form successive batches for further conveyance to a wrapping or packaging machine.

4. Apparatus for the feeding and collecting of uccessive given numbers of articles in the form of regular batches, comprising an open-topped hopper formed with a series of downwardly tapering chambers each adapted to receive articles in succession for the articles to gravitate to the bottom of the hopper, a ledge formed at the upper end of each chamber to support one side only of each successive article as it is fed to the chamber so as to cause the article, during initial gravitation, to tilt downwardly, a sup porting platform adapted to receive each batch of articles from the bottom of the hopper and from which the batch of articles is arranged to be transferred to the feed conveyor of a Wrapping machine, the platform being vertically movable slightly to raise the articles in the hopper, and a trapper member adapted, while the articles are so raised, to trap the layer of articles immediately above that on the platform against a wall of the hopper while the platform is lowered and the batch of articles transferred therefrom.

5. Apparatus for the feeding and collecting of successive given numbers of articles in the form of regular batches, comprising an open-topped hopper formed with a series of downwardly tapering chambers each adapted to receive articles in succession for the articles to gravitate to the bottom of the hopper, a ledge formed at the upper end of each chamber to support one side only of each successive article as it is fed to the chamber so as to cause the article, during initial gravitation, to tilt downwardly, a supporting platform adapted to receive each batch of articles from the bottom of the hopper, the platform being vertically movable slightly to raise the articles in the hopper, a trapper member adapted, while the artioles are so raised, to trap the layer of articles immediately above that on the platform against a wall of the hopper while the platform is lowered, and a reciprocating pusher adapted to transfer the batch of articles from the platform to the feed conveyor of a wrapping machine while the trapper is operative.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 420,743 Smith Feb. 4, 1890 2,358,413 Monaco Sept. 19, 1944 2,461,290 Maynard Feb. 8, 1949 2,731,131 Shannon Jan. 17, 1956 u'... mam

'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,032,211 May 1, 1962 Ronald William Wordsworth It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent, should read as corrected below.

Column 2, line 26, after "series loaded trapper's 42 arranged to engage the line 8, for "ledged" read ledge insert of springcolumn 3,

Signed and sealed this 21st day of August 1962,,

(SEAL) Attest: ESTON G. JOHNSON DAVID L. LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

